MiPow MACA iPhone 4 Battery Case Review

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I have another 2 samples from MiPow to review. This time round, it’s 2 iPhone 4 battery cases to provide backup battery juice in case you need it. I have the MiPow MACA Air 1200mAh and also the MiPow MACA 2200mAh. So how do they perform? Check it out after the jump.

MiPow MACA Air

MiPow MACA 2200

Hardware

Both MACAs are actually identical except for the difference in power capacity and size. The MACA Air Power Case is actually the slimmer version with a power capacity of 1200mAh while the MACA Power Case is the thicker version with a 2200mAh power capacity. If you’re wondering just what’s the dimension, the MACA Air is 13.3mm thick while the MACA is 15.6mm thick.

Both designs are similar with a nice anodized metallic backing that has a power button at the back together with the battery indicator. The sides are transparent plastic with a separate clear detachable top cover. It looks pretty nice but it does feel a bit plasticky. Overall it provides ample protection for the iPhone with only the expose part at the side volume area. There’s also mic and speaker hole at the bottom and it does not seem to obstruct the sound. The battery case will also charge and sync when attached with the USB cable. So you don’t have to remove the iPhone from the case if you want to sync with iTunes.

Out of the box, you get a USB charger cable, a manual and a backup top cover in case you lose the other one.

MiPow MACA Air thickness

MiPow MACA 2200 thickness

Performance

The iPhone 4 has a 1420mAh battery and it’s expected that power is lost from the charging. So the question is how much less than it should. I really liked the MACA Air as it’s very slim and from my test, it only managed to provide an increase of around 35% battery life for the iPhone 4. I did a 2nd test just to be sure and it got almost the same result. It managed to charge from 15% to 50% in 50 minutes with WiFi switched off and no calls being made. Looks like the performance took a hit with the form factor of this one.

As for the MACA 2200mAh version, it managed to give an increase of 100% battery life. A pretty respectable charge but the trade off is a more bulkier case. The charge took around 2 hours 50 minutes before it shuts down by itself. The 4 LED battery indicator will blink to show that it’s time to plug it in to your PC or Mac for charging.

MiPow MACA Air side shot

MiPow MACA 2200 side shot

Wrap-Up

The MiPow MACA is an interesting colorful range that’s definitely gonna make heads turn. While I liked the MACA Air but the battery performance is not as good as I expected. I would have been pretty happy with an additional 50% but I guess the slimness is a factor. The MACA 2200mAh version did provide ample battery juice but the trade off is a slightly bulkier and heavier case. Design wise, it looks pretty cool especially the silver color but it does feel plasticky probably not to add too much weight to the phone. Both the MACA and MACA Air retails for the same price which is $79 and comes in 8 different colors to choose from. It also mentions that it supports both the iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S as well.